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Cinneas
Settled for its abundantly fertile soil, Cinneas was a tremendous provider of food to its parent nations - the United States and Great Britain. The planet is characterized by its large continents, which are spiderwebbed with rivers, lakes, and inland seas. Though there are still plenty of small deserts located in the valleys of mountain ranges, the few larger ones are relegated to its equator; even these are dwarfed by Terran deserts like the Sahara. The lower heat across the board is attributed to the planet’s position in orbit around its sun; it is slightly farther away than Terra is from its own, resulting in both a larger tropical zone and larger arctic and antarctic circles. Because the water is only warm enough around the thin strip of the equator, hurricanes are a rare event; because of the tremendous amounts of water spread throughout each of the continents, they are a terrible one. Structures on Cinneas are built to withstand hurricane-force winds in order to endure the superstorm that comes roughly every eight to ten years. Some breakthroughs in structural engineering allow for even the fields to be protected via dome structures. When the domes are up, the farmers turn on the artificial sunlight lamps built in their fields so that their crops do not wither during the storm. The concept of a dome covering an entire settlement has often been suggested, but never seemed necessary when all of the smaller structures were already prepared to withstand the superstorm, and had connected (severable, in the event of flooding) basements. Also cited was the tremendous amount of resources such a project would consume; while there was no shortage of minerals and metals, the agriculturally oriented colony could only mine and process them quickly enough to provide more machines and buildings for the expanding farming and ranching industries. This single-minded devotion came to an abrupt end shortly after the colony’s founders turned on one-another. The colonists, mostly from the southern US and Scotland, elected to break contact with their parent nations rather than following suit. Their camaraderie with one-another was far stronger than that which they had with their distant “countrymen”. Foreseeing that they might be attacked by their patrons, the elected council of the Cinneas settlement (Cinnae Prime) apportioned funding to create a single weapons factory to provide firearms, ammunition and replacement parts to their security force and the newly officialized militia. The new factory also gave some of the surplus population, who mostly rotated working on the farms, more consistent work as they stockpiled the settlement’s armory - attempting to reach a point where every citizen could be armed. Instead of a conquering army, they were met first by pirate raiders from a relatively nearby world. The militia, while equipped with less advanced weaponry than the raiders, were more numerous and well trained. They secured a total defeat of the raiders, but at tremendous cost of life. Responding to this attack, and the gear looted from the pirates, the council governing the colony ordered that every able-bodied individual, from ages 13 up to 45, would train with the militia so as to improve their chances in case of a second attack. Each individual would also take on a militia specialization to increase redundancy. There were scores of medics, mechanics, marksmen, quartermasters, techies, drivers, pilots (though air and spacecraft were rare indeed, as they hadn’t had time to develop facilities for their production), and mixes of two or three of the above. There were two more raids before the settlement was pushed to the breaking point. As the final raid arrived, so did the TPC. Outnumbered and outgunned, the pirates fled the fight as the larger force landed. The TPC offered their protection as long as Cinneas Prime would join their cause. Without much in the way of alternatives, the settlement council agreed to the TPC’s terms, and began exporting its excess food to them. It wasn’t long before the visiting TPC soldiers noticed the quality of weapons found on the colony. When asked, the colonists would mention the mastersmiths in their number, and the firearms production facility - with guns put together by human hands. The weapons were lower-tech than what the TPC soldiers were used to, but their artistry, accuracy, and power were unmatched by the mass-produced firearms they normally wielded. Many of the weapons had unique quirks, tricks, and advantages not used in conventional designs. Many of the TPC personnel stationed on Cinneas commissioned at least one such firearm from one of the smithing masters or apprentices. As they transferred to different locations, word of the fine craftsmen of a lost farming colony spread and gunsmithing became a new, secondary industry for the people of Cinneas. Category:Planets